EMC To Woo HP Accounts

Under the new HP SRM Replacement program, solution providers selling into HP accounts can acquire EMC&'s VisualSAN and VisualSRM applications for 50 percent off list price, plus their normal discounts, said Peter Thayer, director of business development for midrange storage at the Hopkinton, Mass., storage giant.

Providers can use those discounts to woo customers HP is pushing to migrate to its new Storage Essentials software.

The program is being offered only through solution providers.

While EMC channel partners said they like the possibilities presented by the new program, they doubt whether EMC can achieve the kinds of results it&'s hoping for.

“I&'ve never had a single customer call me up with concerns about HP&'s storage software strategy,” said Dave Butler, president of Enterprise Computing Solutions, Mission Viejo, Calif., which sells products from both vendors. He said he expects customers will ignore the incentives.

But that doesn&'t mean solution providers won&'t appreciate the discounts, said Andrew Preston, account executive at Agilysys, an HP and EMC partner based in Solon, Ohio. “But success depends on the account,” he said. “Some customers have been with one technology for years, and it&'s hard to get them to change their way. [Others] will sit down and evaluate all types of offerings. They would be a more likely target.”